Tipsy
by Shauds02
Summary: Eddie has a weird relationship with alcohol. Or, Marla Bloom had a slight hiccup adjusting to her sudden acquisition of a kid, but she was still the best parent Eddie had.


Eddie has a weird relationship with alcohol. His parents had always been a little softer around it; it hadn't made their warmth feel any more real, but it had made it easier to pretend.

"Always in moderation." Aunt Marla had said it like she was reading it off the back ot a que card, and she'd stuck to it mostly.

The only time Eddie had ever seen her act contrary to that had been the night before the firsr birthday he spent without his parents, though he hadn't known that last part yet. It was an accident that he'd seen it at all when he'd been creeping to the bathroom and she and Dan had stumbled by, Dan almost carring her down the hall and to her bed.

Her face had been red and sticky looking, her limbs floppy and uncoordinated. It had taken her three tries to get her hand around the knob of her bedroom door to open, speaking all the while in words so slurred and mashed together, the only ones Eddie could pick out were the names of him and his parents.

It had been the only time he'd seen his amazing Aunt being anything less than the cool, confident, elegant woman he'd grown used to.

"Gopher?" She'd said it slowly when she noticed him watching and shambled over to him.

Eddie had frozen on the spot, afraid to so much as move.

"It's gonna be okay, m'kay." She'd grinned down at him wide and warm and… fake, like his parents were fake, like his Aunt never was.

"Okay Aunt Marla." Eddie had replied, confused and knowing what else he was supposed to do while Dan watched on, an apologetic look on his face.

"Good boy." She'd cupped the back of his head and pressed a soppy, sour smelling kiss to his forehead. It wasn't like the goodnight kiss she'd given him hours before. It was fake, fake, fake. When she smiled down at him, it was sad. "My good boy, Gopher."

"Okay, time for bed." Dan said and wraped his arm around her. "A lot going on tomorrow, remember?"

His Aunt had cursed again as he led her off, and this time, Eddie had only pretended not to understand the things she was saying about his parents. Her voice faded off when her door shut, but Eddie remained frozen where he was.

Not long after, Dan reemerged, he sighed heavily when he noticed Eddie still standing there. He looked tired too.

"Is my Aunt okay?" Eddie had asked stupidly, doing it only because for once he actually wanted the lie.

"Yeah." Dan had walked over to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, she's just a little tipsy is all, needs to sleep it off. Speaking of sleep…" Dan nudged his head towards Eddie's bedroom. "Big day for you too, superheroes need their sleep."

"That's a bad argument, Dan." Eddie had said. "I bed some of em don't sleep at all. Bet Batman doesn't."

"Maybe you can ask him yourself some day." Dan had grinned at Eddie instead of either refuting it or asking how he would know that the way he usually did. "Either way, it's bed for you."

Dan began leading Eddie back to his own room, but Eddie looked back at Marla's door his throat dry and tight. "She's just… tipsy, right?"

"Yeah." Dan ruffled Eddie's hair. "Just had half a glass too much, she'll sleep it off and be perfectly fine in the morning."

"Okay." Eddie turned away from her door and looked over at his idol. "Night Dan."

"Sleep tight Gopher."

Eddie hadn't slept well that night, and while she still had drinks with the crew occasionally, he never saw his Aunt that way again. But even years later, even after he'd found out the why of her getting drunk that night, or perhaps because of it, the memory had never faded from his mind.

He wouldn't have said he hated alcohol, or that he hadn't tried it in the little time he'd spent in highschool, or with some friends from work, but he was never comfortable around it. He never would have convinced himself he liked it. Not once did he ever let himself get anywhere near as 'tipsy' as he'd seen his Aunt that night. Some of his friends had, they'd gotten worse, in fact, but it had never held the same weight. Depending on who he was with, it wasn't always bad, it could be fun watching one friend stumble around telling everyone how much he loved them, or another trying to argue literature when he could barely speak.

It was fun when nothing came of it, when no one was worried and they laughed off their hangovers in the morning over very salty breakfasts.

Eddie still won't say he himself likes alcohol, not when it's him drinking it at least because the taste and the headache are definitely not worth it. But, like with his parents, it does tend to make some people a little warmer, a little softer and more carefree around him and Eddie can't say he hates that.

It's a weird relationship.


End file.
